Genesis 6:8 - Printer Friendly

ESV: But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

NIV: But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

NASB: But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

CSB: Noah, however, found favor with the Lord.

NLT: But Noah found favor with the Lord.

KJV: But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

NKJV: But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

After the finality of God's statement in the previous verse, verse 8 catches us by surprise. In light of the great wickedness of humanity, the Creator has just expressed the pain His creation of mankind has caused Him. Even worse, He has announced His plan to wipe humanity, along with birds and animals, from the face of the earth.

Now, however, we are told that one man, Noah, has found favor in God's eyes. The rest of the chapter will explain exactly what "favor" means. It won't stop God from carrying out His plan to destroy so much of His creation. It certainly won't mean that Noah's life will be perfect, or easy, or painless. However, it will mean that humanity will continue. The end of civilization will be followed by a new beginning. Noah will not only survive the upcoming judgment, along with his wife and children, but he will carry on the survival of the human race.

This reference is also important because it is rare. Very few people in the Old Testament are said to have found favor in God's eyes. Noah was special, and that favored status before God would mean the difference between death and life for future humanity.

Genesis 6:1–8 introduces us to two mysterious groups: the ''sons of God'' and the Nephilim. Provoked by the wickedness of humanity and, perhaps, by the power of these two groups, God declares that He will reduce human lifespans to 120 years. Alternatively, this same remark might refer to God's plan to wipe out all of humanity in 120 years. In either case, this prediction is fulfilled. God will exercise His authority as Creator and execute justice by ending the world as it was. Human civilization will be forced to start again, through one man: Noah.

God sees. In the first chapter of Genesis, God saw that all He had made was good. Now, many generations after sin entered the world, God sees that all man has made is wickedness and evil. Human beings have used their power for violence and destruction. God declares His plan to wipe out all land-dwelling life on the face of the earth. He will however, preserve humanity and animal life for a new beginning through the one righteous man, Noah, and a huge life-giving structure called an ark.

The previous chapter traced the generations from Adam through his son Seth and all of the way to Noah. This chapter reveals that Noah will be the man through whom God will preserve humanity for a new beginning after wiping out all life on the face of the earth. God tells Noah to build an enormous structure, an ark, and prepare to welcome representatives of all of the animals on earth. Noah does exactly that, setting the stage for the cataclysmic judgment of God to come in chapter 7.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.